NEW YORK (AP) — A New York teen has filed a lawsuit against high-profile department store Barneys New York, the city and its police department over an incident in which he says he was wrongfully detained after making an expensive purchase because he is a young black man.
Another black shopper also has come forward to accuse the store of racial profiling.
In the lawsuit, Trayon Christian, 19, of Queens, said he went to Barneys on Madison Avenue in Manhattan on April 29 and purchased an expensive Ferragamo belt. After leaving, he was accosted by undercover NYPD officers, who said someone at the store had raised concerns over the sale. According to Christian’s lawsuit, filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, he showed the receipt from the purchase, the debit card he used to make it and identification to the officers, but was told the identification was false and “that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase.”
The lawsuit said he was detained at a precinct in a cell for more than two hours before being released with no charges filed against him. It said the incident was due to “discrimination based on plaintiff’s race and age as he was a young black American male.”
In a statement, Barneys denied that it was involved in any detention, saying “that after carefully reviewing the incident of last April, it is clear that no employee of Barneys New York was involved in the pursuit of any action with the individual other than the sale.”
Meanwhile, another shopper who heard about the lawsuit came forward to say she had a similar experience after purchasing a $2,500 designer handbag at the store in February.
Kayla Phillips, 21, of Brooklyn, told the New York Daily News and the New York Post that she was surrounded by police after leaving the store. They demanded to know why she used a debit card without a name on it, she said.
Phillips explained that it was a temporary card, and after showing police identification and a new debit card that had arrived in the mail that morning, they let her go.
The New York Police Department said any officers’ role is under internal review. The city’s law department said it was waiting for a formal copy of the lawsuit, and would review the claim once it had been received.
Met I was wondering how u Neva post this, u see y I say black people if stop waste dem money inna dem white people store buying designer shit. The people dem sey dem want prospects not suspects, Kmdt, and we think by carrying a Chanel bag will make them like us more., or that we have arrived. Racist sons of bitches.
black people fi cut it out..stop go ina dem store and buy di big name tings because a nuh we dem mek dem fah so dem doe waa we buy it..ON THE OTHER HANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD SOME A DEM NEED FI STOP TEEF AND USE PEOPLE CREDIT CARD MEK WE LOOK BAD
Lol, so true
Should put that $350. In his college fund, education me sey.
This is soooooo damn true that’s y I don’t shop in Barney’s I have been in numerous top of the line stores n used my credit card without n hitch n sometime last year they gave me such an hassle in Barney’s I was so turned off n when these white thieving biotchhes up in there a thief n return di clothes dem whey dem wear fi 1 whole year they ain’t saying shit dumb racist fuxxs but I blame n cuss the likes of Apple n har fren dem fi this shit too kmft
Chuet u know mi neva go ina dem store dere yet a doe have dem store money deh -_- but heff a did me a drop a law suit under dem b**hole
Mi say Met the only thing left fi dem ask fa a u fingerprint before u can buy whey u a buy
cheut go back in dere n buy agen next year not now when heat deh pan dem and mek smaddy record dem n sue dem
Mi woulda really do it fi get back mi money whey mi spend in there to eno cause them over priced rass tooo racist man kmt
It is racial profiling, and you know what the stores do, they hire black or Hispanic security guards to profile black and Hispanic shoppers, that way it don’t look too obvious. You know which store infamous for this, Macy”s. Look it up, it was so bad that when Eliot Spitzer was attorney general for nyc he sued them for a lot on behalf of black and Hispanic customers, all people who had receipts were being arrested and sent to jail. Because they said ppl with receipts don’t prove purchase was made, cuz the ppl dem can buy the stuff the day before and come back come steal the same item and return the stolen one, I was like wah??!! Receipt aint mean shti!@@!
Evening MET, you know is the principle behind the thing. It’s like they’re saying to be young and black and buying luxury item, automatically makes you suspect. It is hard shopping while black, now, if your white, well dressed, and appears to have money you can go in a lift the entire store. Barney’s couldn’t give a rass bout the bad publicity because Black people makes up a small percentage of their customers, so even if we boycott, Barney’s would still be doing well.
its me a dat…we nuh good enough for those things so a mus teef we a teef if we want it fi buy..what is not being said is that the police is working with barney’s that is why they never meet the customers inside the store..
Yessss Met the police force is behind it too same shit with the stop n frisk shit n they want ppl to believe that there isn’t any radial profiling going on y take the payment n then confront the shopper outside n I bet no badge or name was given during this questioning smh LAWSUITTTTT FI DEM RASS
chuet if barney’s stop dem ina di store dem cannot press charges so das y dem mek dem walk out
Whey u mean Metsy who cannot press charges?
Met I’m not spending no thousands but every now n again I will treat my self that’s just me n expensive can be relative too but if I like it I will buy it
I get up at 4:45 every morning get to work at 7:00 n many nights at 7 I’m still there working my ass off so treating my self should not be a crime but Barney’s on Broadway on the west side have some real nasty characters in there man
Not Broadway its Amsterdam
chuet dat a di truth but mi doe reach desso yet -_- but mi understand..they dont know how much the little boy sacrifice fi buy him belt and just like u seh u work and tink u fi treat urself …i guess barney’s nuh think we entitled to be treated
If she have to wait until her tax return to buy a bag, it means she cannot afford it. When will we BLACK people get it RIGHT.
same so! but on the other hand people entitled to do what they want with their money
Met fact of the matter is is not every body dream big r see the bigger picho cause her dream might b the bag while others are thinking long term but whether r not Barney’s is damn out of order n them need fi stop matter of fact them no haffi stop cause mi did done stop spend my money with dem.
Truth be told, rich white women are the biggest shoplifters at these highend stores. This is what I was told by a worker at Saks Fifth Ave Store at the Cherry Hill Store in New Jersey. He told me that when they catch up with these ladies in the parking lot, they were always getting into these highend vehicles. The guy is white and work part time at Saks. Of course these stores don’t press charges against these women, since they are white and are some of their best customers. Their kids are also good at stealing also. Whites protect their own.
i was reading these two story ,but all i can say is that they don’t want us in their store an they think we cannot afford expensive tings NO SAH DEM RUDE BADD ME NAH GO DEY GO SHOP ONLY BLACK PEOPLE ALONE A KILL DEM SELF FI WEAR,DEM TINGS NEXT TING AGAIN IS PEOPLE LIKE THE ICONS GIVE US BAD NAME
maybe the way barneys and others go about it is wrong, but it makes sense. you should have a certain credit score to enter those stores man. black people are the biggest consumers for no damn reason other than them want look like people or pop style pon dem one anadda. me sorry fi the youth but such is life. all dem ago do wid the case money a spend it pon more labels then what.